Hector Hammond
*Real Name: Hector Hammond *Alias: Hector Hammond, Ophidian *Identity: Public Identity *Alignment: Bad *Gender: Male *Hair: Brown, Eyes: Blue *Occupation: Super-villain *First appearance: Green Lantern Vol 2 #5 (April, 1961) History Hector Hammond was a petty criminal on the run from the law when he discovers the fragments of a strange meteor in the woods (part of the same meteor that lands in Africa, super-evolving Gorilla Grodd and the other gorillas of Gorilla City). Observing that radiation from the meteor has caused the nearby plants to evolve rapidly, Hammond decides to kidnap four scientists and expose them to the meteor. The radiation causes their intellects to evolve, but also has the side effect of sapping their wills. Hammond was able to force the scientists to use their heightened intellect to create amazing new inventions, which Hammond sells for his own profit. Hammond rapidly becomes a rich celebrity due to the wealth he has acquired. Green Lantern Hal Jordan asks his friend and mechanic, Thomas Kalmaku, to take on the role of the Green Lantern while Jordan investigates Hammond. Jordan creates a duplicate power ring and costume for Kalmaku to fool Hammond. Unaware of the impersonation, Hammond kidnaps Kalmaku, steals his ring and turns him into a chimpanzee. Jordan confronts Hammond personally in a battle of power rings that ends only when the charge of Hammond's ring runs out, allowing Jordan to capture him and restore Kalmaku and the scientists. Hammond returns shortly afterwards, where he has managed to escape from prison and deliberately exposes himself to the meteorite. The radiation causes his brain to grow to enormous size, granting him telelpathic and telekinetic powers as well as immortality in the process. Unfortunately, his body becomes immobilized and he loses the power to speak. Trapped in a motionless state, Hammond is still able to use his psionic powers to control the minds of others. He attempts to steal the Green Lantern's ring, but Jordan manages to command his ring to drain itself of power when it leaves his finger, after which Jordan renders Hammond unconscious. Hammond is responsible for the creation of the second Royal Flush Gang. Hammond and the Gang are defeated when Dr. Martin Stein, one half of the superhero Firestorm, subdues Hector on the astral plane. In addition to battling Hal Jordan, Hammond has also fought Alan Scott as well as Kyle Rayner. Hammond has reappeared now that Hal Jordan has returned as Green Lantern. Recently, after his capture and further experimentation by the gremlins, the aliens which sent the meteor that gave him his powers, he seems to have recovered the ability to speak without using telepathy. Hammond appears in Infinite Crisis, being broken out of prison along with several other super-villains. Hammond appears shortly after Jordan gains the ring, where he claims to be Carol Ferris's boyfriend. However, he is just a private consultant for Ferris Aircraft and that they had gone out to dinner, according to Carol, "on business". He leads the team inspecting Abin Sur's crashed aircraft, where Hammond is affected by the meteorite fragment in its reactor. This leads to his brain growing bigger, and able to read minds, including Carol Ferris and Hal Jordan who Hammond deduces is the Green Lantern. His mental powers keep Hal from using his ring, and is only stopped when Sinestro encases his head in an energy bubble, cutting off his air supply. Hector Hammond swallowed the Power Battery belonging to Larfleeze of the Orange Lantern Corps and became possessed by the entity Ophidian, physical embodiment of avarice, who has now given him much greater powers. Hectorhammond.png HectorHammondBJC.gif HectorHammond1CJE-gl-foes.gif Hectorhammond1.gif Category:Characters Category:Bad Guys Category:Secret Society of Super Villains Category:Green Lantern villains Category:Orange Lantern Corps Category:Royal Flush Gang Category:Belle Reve Inmate Category:Slabside Penitentiary inmates